The Waltons Sextuplets At 30: Catching up with the famous family as they return to the TV screen - Mirror Online Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email With six daughters all aged 30, dad Graham Walton knows there is every chance there could be wedding bells in the air at some point. And as three of them are already engaged, that moment may come sooner rather than later for the 63-year-old. So the painter and decorator has prepared himself well by writing wedding speeches for all six of them – even though none of them have actually set a date for their big day yet. Graham said: “Be prepared for anything that happens… that’s what having six girls has taught me.” As father to the world’s only all-female ­sextuplets , Graham has been the sole man in a house full of women since wife Jan gave birth to Hannah, Luci, Ruth, Sarah, Kate and Jennie on November 18, 1983. The girls grew up under the watchful eye of TV cameras since they were born in Liverpool. But at 18 they decided to live more private lives.

Now they are returning to our screens for a new ITV documentary, The Waltons Sextuplets At 30. Babies: Walton Family Sextuplets (Photo: Sunday Mirror) And Graham has enjoyed every minute of those 30 years – even enjoying a sideline career as an after-dinner speaker delivering a talk called My Life With Seven Women. He said: “It’s just a bit of a laugh because no one has six babies , do they? Not all at once anyway.” Today, only Luci and Hannah live with their parents in the family home in Wallasey, Wirral. Graham converted the three-storey Victorian house himself so each girl had their own bedroom. He said: “But they were in and out of each other’s room most of the time. They’d swap clothes, swap beds, swap everything…even swap boyfriends later on. I’m only kidding.” Graham told how he misses the ones who have left. He added: “I don’t mind if they come back. It’s an empty feeling when nobody’s here. “I don’t like the silence so I put the music on. I like the noise.

You get used to the noise over the years.” Hannah moved back with her mum and dad to save for her own home. The ­optician’s manager and supply teacher, who is single, told of the moment she realised hers wasn’t your average family. Walton Sextuplets are nine years old (Photo: Daily Mirror) She said: “When we started our first day of school there were photographers and people outside the gates. That’s different isn’t it? When I’m in the opticians all the old ladies come in and ask questions. They want to know what we’re up to.” HR admin assistant Kate is also single but lives in a flat about 10 minutes away from Graham and Jan and said she has no plans to settle down. She added: “I just don’t feel ready for that now. I’ve been on a couple of dates but I haven’t got time. I’m too busy. I just keep going out and having fun.” Ruth is the latest sister to get engaged after civil service worker Rob proposed on Valentine’s Day. She was the one who felt most strongly about having a private life and refused to do any more filming when she reached 18.

The call centre worker said: “When you’re a teenager you’re very into yourself and don’t like people being intrusive. “I used to go out and people knew who I was. They’d say not so nice things. I just didn’t like it.” GP admin assistant Sarah, who is engaged to restaurant worker Kieran, 31, describes herself as “one of the quieter ones”. The first of the Walton girls to buy her own home, she said: “When I moved out I did notice a big difference. “From it being a chaotic house to a fairly quiet one. It came as a bit of a shock to be honest with you but I’m used to it now.” To mark their 30th birthday last November, all six girls got a matching heart tattoo. Jennie was behind it. She said: “It’s always been about the six hearts and they represent each one of us. They are all interlined like us.” Jennie is the only one of the six sisters to venture away from Merseyside. She lives in Leeds with boyfriend Matt, 27. The pair met when they were both working as entertainers in Spain. She runs a confectionary business.

She said: “My sisters are always with each other and I miss out on all that. “I’m on the phone constantly, texting or ringing all the time. I speak to them about 20 times a day.” Luci has been engaged to bakery supervisor Paul, 31, for the three years. She moved back in with Graham and Jan, 61, while she saves for a mortgage. The air stewardess said: “I’ve never minded having a long engagement. I’d rather get my house first then do it. There’s no rush.” After Graham and Jan got together they knew it would not be easy to start a family. At 16 she had been told she was unlikely to conceive ­naturally. Doctors gave her fertility drugs but when that failed, they looked at adoption. Jan said: “We got a letter from the adoption agency to say we’d been accepted as parents of the next baby or twins. “Gray was quite ­horrified. He said: ‘Let’s start at one at a time’.” Kids: Janet Walton with her sextuplets But as they waited for more news of adoption, the couple struck lucky on their 13th round of fertility treatment.

However, there was a massive shock in store when a scan revealed Jan was carrying not just one, but six babies. Jan, a fundraiser for the neo-natal intensive care unit where the girls were born, said: “These days multiple births are more common but no one knew what the outcome would be.” The girls were born at 31-and-a-half weeks by Caesarian within just four minutes of each other. Graham took a year off work to help Jan care for them and has fond ­memories of that time. He said: “Jan used to say we must go out every day, just because we’ve got six ­children it must not stop us from doing what ­everybody else does. “We had papooses so we’d have one baby each at the front and two each in double buggies. It was ridiculous, really. “When the girls were little you needed eyes in the back of your head. You’d turn around, go ‘one, two, three, four, five… phew, that’s it.’ “We were counting heads all day so by the time you got home from these places your head was spinning.

We’d be counting in our sleep.” But despite keeping a close eye on the girls, the couple did once manage to lose one – at the seaside. The Waltons Sextuplets, Lucy Walton, Ruth Walton, Jenny Walton, Hannah Walton, Kate Walton and Sarah Walton (Photo: Sunday People) Graham said: “When they were about three we went to Southport for the day. We were all walking down the main street and decided to go in a sweet shop but Sarah with her head in the clouds carried on walking. “I got in the shop and went, ‘one, two, three, four, five… there’s one missing.’ “I ran out quickly and saw a woman holding Sarah’s hand and walking us back. She said to me, ‘Oh here’s your little Sarah. I’ve seen you on the telly but I never thought I’d find a Walton.’ That was the only time and it was minutes but it was a panicky moment.” After 30 years, Graham has clearly got an awful lot of memories and funny tales to tell about his girls. Which will give him plenty of material for those father of the bride speeches when one, or all, of them finally gets round to trying the knot.

* The Walton Sextuplets at 30 is on ITV, tonight, Thursday April 17, at 9pm We're testing a new site: This content is coming soon Walton Sextuplets: Family photos show sisters 27 years on | Daily Mail Online comments As the world’s only all-female sextuplets, they share the closest possible bond and have faced all of life’s little hurdles together. For many years the Walton sisters – first-born Hannah, who was followed by Luci, Ruth, Sarah, Kate and Jennie – celebrated their similarities and would pose together for photos in the same school uniforms. But now, after spending much of the past decade out of the limelight to live more privately, the 27-year-olds are all keen to stress their individuality. Happy family: Janet and Graham Walton's daughters (from left) Hannah, Ruth, Luci, Kate, Jennie and Sarah Enlarge Meet the family: The sextuplets as newborns cradled by their parents Graham and Janet.

They were born on November 18th, 1983 Two of the sisters, who were born within four minutes of each other on November 18, 1983, are now brunettes. And while the other four still have their blonde locks, there are three different shades between them. The siblings have also struck out in different directions for their careers, with some working abroad and others taking jobs in the UK. Yet four still live in the eight-bedroom family home in Wallasey, Wirral, with parents Graham and Janet, a fifth will be returning this summer and the sixth lives just down the road. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share Mrs Walton, 58, said: ‘Jennie was a bit of a leader because she climbed out of her cot first, Luci was shy as a toddler but has made up for that now, Sarah was the quietest, although not now, Ruth is quite bossy, Kate is academic and Hannah is very articulate and organised. ‘But they’ve always been close and they talk to each other all the time.

And we still have meeting around the kitchen table, which we had for any big decision, such as parties, birthdays or school.’ Hannah, who was the lightest baby at 2lb 1oz, is studying for her PGCE teaching qualification to work in a primary school. She is currently single and enjoys shopping, reading and meeting friends in her spare time. The sextuplets' mother said: 'Jennie was a bit of a leader because she climbed out of her cot first, Luci was shy as a toddler but has made up for that now' Mrs Walton continues: 'Sarah was the quietest, although not now, Ruth is quite bossy, Kate is academic and Hannah is very articulate and organised' ‘When we were younger people would get us confused but not so much now. You can tell we’re sisters if we’re all lined up. I don’t think we look as alike now,’ she told the Daily Mirror. Luci, who was 2lbs 15oz at birth, worked as a holiday rep in Spain for two years before becoming an air stewardess. She lives five minutes from home with her fiancé of three years and likes going to the pub with friends.

‘I used to be really shy but I’m not any more. I think the repping I did sorted that out,’ she said. ‘Me and Ruth are very similar and probably most alike as we like to go and have a good drink. But I think me and Hannah look the most alike.’ Ruth, who was 2lb 11oz, is an admin worker who returned home 18 months ago after being made redundant. The Liverpool FC fan, who has a long-term boyfriend, said: ‘I don’t feel special – I just have five sisters who are all the same age. Extraordinary bond: The sisters' childhood was documented on film until they were 18, but this is one of the first times we have seen them since Six daughters: The Walton girls were the world's first surviving all female sextuplets We’re all quite different. I like to go to the pub, watch the footie and play a bit of poker. I’m a bit of a boy really.’ Sarah is an administration worker at the Central Park Medical Centre in Liverpool and is saving up to buy a home with her boyfriend of four years.

The keep-fit fan, who weighed 2lb 5oz at birth, said: ‘I’m naturally a very clean person so it is hard being in this house. I like everything in its right place.' Admin assistant Kate, who works in the human resources department at Liverpool John Moore’s University, is also at home saving money to buy her own place. She is single and her interests include fashion, bowling and cinema. ‘Jennie, Luci and Ruth have all got the same sense of humour and are quite loud. Then me, Sarah and Hannah are the quieter ones and more sensible,’ said Kate, who was born weighing 2lb 13oz. Jumping for joy: The six sisters in their secondary school uniforms Jennie, who was the heaviest baby at 3lb 8oz, works as a children’s entertainer in a Majorca hotel but comes home for the off season. She and her boyfriend have been together almost four years. ‘We are completely different people, from our hair colour to the way we dress and what we do,’ said Jennie, who enjoys shopping and drinking with friends in her free time.

The odds of having sextuplets are extremely low, with one occurring in every 4.5 million pregnancies. But many end in miscarriages and, even if the babies defy the odds, the mortality rate is high. In more than 90 per cent of sextuplet births, one or more will die before their first birthday. Home sweet home: The sextuplets having a pillow fight and as babies, with their parents, in front of their home in Wirral As a result, the Walton children attracted worldwide attention when they were born. The girls were conceived using fertility treatment and their parents took a year off work to care for them full-time. Mr Walton, 60, described living with seven women for much of his life as an ‘eye-opener’ but revealed he expected everything to change ‘dramatically, with weddings and babies likely to happen soon’. However, he added: ‘If they all moved out tomorrow it would be dreadful.

I love the noise and the shouting and have loved every minute of them growing up.’ * The Walton Sextuplets: Moving On will be shown on ITV1 on Monday June 13 at 9pm The 18th of November 1983 AD, Walton Sextuplets Born Liverpool , Merseyside The 18th of November 1983 AD Sextuplets are of course a rare phenomenon, but even rarer are sextuplets all of the same sex. In 1983 when Janet Walton gave birth to Hannah, Lucy, Ruth, Sarah, Kate and Jennifer they were the only surviving all-female sextuplets in the world. The girls were born via caesarean section in Liverpool ï¿½s Oxford Street Hospital; their weights ranged from 2lb 1oz to 3lb 8oz. Parents John and Janet had undergone fertility treatment for several years, and had just been given the green light to adopt when the 13th cycle came good ï¿½ in spectacular fashion.

For a time the girls were big news and the family was able to agree sponsorship deals that included a shoe company supplying footwear until the six were 12, a house-swap into a suitably big place in Wallasey , much of the baby equipment needed, and the loan of an estate car from Ford. Happily they grew up healthy, and as well as providing their father with a new role (which laudably included becoming family cook) they also brought him a new career strand ï¿½ as an after-dinner speaker relating what it is like to live in a house with seven females. Scary Iï¿½d guess. Researching Walton sextuplets Researching Walton sextuplets Investigate the background of Walton sextuplets using the links below. We hope you find this information useful! New to Family History? Check out our Getting Started page. Check out House Of Names to investigate the origins of the sextuplets surname or get a copy of the sextuplets family Crest (a great gift idea!). sextuplets records on Ancestry Ancestry is a major source of information if you are filling out your Walton sextuplets family tree.

Many large databases are available to search covering from births, deaths and marriages, military records, census records and immigration records with many other smaller collections too. Free trials are normally available and are a good way to fill out a lot of your tree quickly. Records Found Military records search results for Walton sextuplets. DNA Sometimes you can run into a brick wall in your tree and you just don't have enough evidence to make that next step back in time. A DNA test can sometimes help to make a link to a particular family name if you find you share common DNA with people who have the same or similar surnames as each other. If you are lucky then you may get a match within a few generations and discover some Walton sextuplets ancestors. Additionally, the modern DNA test can give you a breakdown of your ethnic mix - you may be surprised at the results! Have you reached a brick wall in your sextuplets Tree? Birth, Death and Marriage Records for Walton sextuplets and the sextuplets Family Tree Birth, Death and Marriage records are often the best method of making the links to the Walton sextuplets Genealogy that will form part of your family tree.

Although records vary from country to country, they are normally the most formal record of a person's relations. From the sources listed below it will be possible to locate a birth record and, from that record, a birth certificate may be obtainable which is likely to list the names of the parents, therefore taking you back another generation. A marriage certificate may also list the names of the respective fathers of the bride and groom which may then help you to find them earlier in life on a census record enableing you to fill out more detail in the Walton sextuplets family tree. Explore the huge Ancestry records Database for Births, Marriages and Deaths of Walton sextuplets. Explore Parish Records for Walton sextuplets at Find My Past . Search for the UK registered births, marriages and deaths of Walton sextuplets using the FreeBMD database. Explore the LDS Database for records about Walton sextuplets. Research the sextuplets surname using Regimental archive Footnotes by viewing images of original sextuplets family history documents. Study World Vital Records for information on Walton sextuplets. sextuplets Family Tree Databases Another way to build your tree quickly is to use the research other people have already done.

This can help to confirm or refute your own deductions - however, be wary of taking this data at face value as other researchers may not have been as meticulous as you. Always try to back up deductions with some definitive sources rather than relying too heavily on others. Study the WikiTree database for user contributed records for Walton sextuplets. Study MyTrees for information on the sextuplets family and people looking to contact living sextuplets relations. Explore One Great Family for sextuplets records submitted by people who are already researching the sextuplets Family Tree. Find Walton sextuplets from Ireland on findmypast.ie sextuplets Forums There are a number of forums which are dedicated to rearching particular surnames. These can be good places to share your findings and also to tap into the knowledge that others may already have. These can sometimes be a good way of finding living relations as these tend not to show up on the other sources of information for privacy reasons. Research the sextuplets surname using Genealogy.com forums . Study RootsWeb forums for sextuplets records. Miscellaneous sextuplets Databases Search the Ellis Island Database for information on Walton sextuplets.

This database contains over 25 million immigration records detailing passengers arriving in the United States of America. Research Walton sextuplets using the Genealogy Today database . View the distribution of the sextuplets surname in Britain using the public profiler Names database . The public profiler Names database contains distributions for the sextuplets surname in both 1881 and 1998. It also contains data on the ethnicity breakdown of the sextuplets surname. BBC News | HEALTH | Walton sextuplets come of age Wednesday, 14 November, 2001, 10:47 GMT Walton sextuplets come of age The girls will be 18 on Sunday The world's first surviving set of all-girl sextuplets are marking their 18th birthdays by offering a glimpse of what it was like to grow up in the media spotlight. The Waltons are appearing in a special BBC One documentary on Wednesday, ahead of their birthdays this Sunday. There's no manual how to do these things and we did our best Graham Walton Liverpool couple Janet and Graham Walton told BBC Breakfast of their pride and joy that all their girls had grown up healthy individuals.

Mrs Walton, 49, said: "We have always encouraged the girls to be individual. "Some of them are more outspoken than others. "It would have been easy to lump them all together but we didn't." After-dinner speaker Her husband has even developed a sideline in after-dinner speaking on what it is like to live in a household of seven women. The family live in a seven-bedroomed house But with all the girls still living at home Mr Walton said it would be sad if they decided to move out in one go as the house would suddenly fall quiet. The sextuplets' arrival in 1983 came as a surprise to the couple, who had been tried for a baby for five years. They had been told it was unlikely they would be able to have children. The Waltons had just been accepted as adoptive parents when they were told they were expecting six children. In Wednesday's documentary, Mr Walton will speak about the couple's decision to tell their story to the media. After the girls were born, he took a year off his job as a painter and decorator to help look after them. Mr Walton, 51, said:"All of a sudden we went from nothing to six babies.

"We had to work our plan, what we were going to do to look after the babies, how we were going to get money to keep and we did our best. "If we made a mistake, we made a mistake. "There's no manual how to do these things and we did our best." Media deals But his wife told BBC Breakfast they did not get as much from sponsorship deals as might be imagined. The documentary will also show the different career paths their daughters Hannah, Lucy, Ruth, Sarah, Kate and Jenny were pursuing. The couple had been told they might never have children Lucy wants to be a TV presenter or a model. "I have always wanted to be famous. I don't know why," she said. Hannah hopes to do a business degree after her A levels. Her sister Kate is also taking A levels, with a view to doing a media and cultural studies course. Jenny, who finished her GCSEs last year, is currently unemployed. Meanwhile Ruth dreams of running her own nursery and is doing a child-care course. Sarah works at an insurance firm in Liverpool city centre. The family have already been on holiday to Majorca to celebrate and will have a special lunch on Sunday.

The Walton Girls Come of Age is on BBC One on Wednesday at 2055GMT See also: First sextuplets born in England for more than a quarter of a century - Telegraph First sextuplets born in England for more than a quarter of a century A woman has given birth to the first sextuplets in England for more than 25 years. By Laura Roberts 6:30AM BST 20 May 2010 A team of doctors and nurses delivered four girls and two boys 14 weeks before their due date on Friday May 14 in an Oxfordshire hospital. The smallest child weighed only 1lb 5oz while the largest was only 1lb 15oz. The babies are being treated at the neonatal intensive care unit of the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. The birth had been meticulously planned over several weeks. The parents, Vicky and Andy Lamb, both 31, live in Oxfordshire and also have a daughter, aged five. It is not known whether the sextuplets were conceived with or without the help of fertility treatment.

Related Articles Sextuplets 'fighting for their lives' 21 May 2010 Dr Kenny McCormick, Consultant Neonatologist, said: "The next few days and weeks will be critical. Babies that are born this early need a lot of specialist care. "They are receiving round the clock intensive care and specialist nursing at the moment and their condition is constantly monitored." Sextuplets occur in just one in every 4.5million pregnancies. While medical advances have made it possible for a much higher number of premature babies to survive, the last sextuplets known to have been born in England were delivered in 1983. The Walton sisters were the world's first surviving all-girl sextuplets, born in Liverpool to Graham and Janet Walton. Conceived following fertility treatment, the couple had spent years trying for children before Hannah, Lucy, Ruth, Sarah, Kate and Jenny were born. Last year in the U.S Nadya Suleman gave birth to octuplets in California. Later it emerged that she was a single mother who already had six children, all conceived through IVF. In May last year in Ireland, sextuplets were born to Austin and Nuala Conway, who they called 'beautiful little miracles'.

The four baby boys and two girls, conceived naturally without the aid of IVF, were born in the space of five minutes. Sixty days later, Kerrie Mae Conway, the youngest of the six, died in hospital. They too were born 14 weeks premature and weighed from 1lb 7oz to 2lb 2oz. Three years ago a Russian woman gave birth to quintuplets at the John Radcliffe. Vavara Artamkin, 29-year-old music teacher, gave birth to Elizaveta, Alexandra, Nadezhda, Tatiana and Varvara 14 weeks early in November 2007. They ranged in weight from 1lb 13oz to 2lb 2oz after being delivered by Caesarean section by a team of 18 doctors and nurses. Walton sextuplets celebrate 25th birthday - Telegraph Walton sextuplets celebrate 25th birthday The Walton sisters - the world's first surviving all-female sextuplets - are celebrating their 25th birthday.

The Walton family sextuplets Lucy, Jenny, Hannah, Sarah, Kate and Ruth Photo: ABBIE TRAYLER-SMITH By Graham Tibbetts Comments Their parents, Graham and Janet Walton, had all but given up on having children when their 13th attempt at fertility treatment bore spectacular results. Hannah, Luci, Ruth, Sarah, Kate and Jennifer were born by caesarean section at Liverpool's Oxford Street women's hospital on 18 Nov 1983. The girls, who grew up in the family's eight-bedroom house in Wallasey, Merseyside, are the world's fourth known set of surviving sextuplets. Their parents were always determined they should be treated as individuals. Speaking in 2004 on the girl's 21st birthday Mrs Walton said: "We have always encouraged them to be individual. Related Articles 22 May 2009 "Graham and I have worked hard not to let them be treated just as one person.

"We rarely dressed them the same - I think one of the first times was when they all went to Weatherhead high school and they were all in uniform - and in the past they've even had separate birthday parties." After their birth Mr Walton took a year off from his job as a painter and decorator to help look after his daughters. Since then he has developed a sideline in after-dinner speaking on what it is like to live in a household of seven women. First British sextuplets born for 26 years | The Independent Health News First British sextuplets born for 26 years Four girls and two boys delivered by Caesarean section at Belfast hospital &ndash; and the whole thing took five minutes Friday 22 May 2009 23:00 BST Click to follow Indy Lifestyle Online A woman has given birth to six babies at a hospital in Northern Ireland, equalling a British record set 26 years ago. The sextuplets were delivered by Caesarean section at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast between 11.19am and 11.24am yesterday morning. They were said to be doing well despite being born 14 weeks early.

The births equal a record set by the Walton family in Liverpool in 1983, who had six girls. It is believed to be the first case of sextuplets ever recorded in Northern Ireland. Only one in around 4.5 million pregnancies result in sextuplets. The four girls and two boys weighed between 1lb 7oz and 2lb 2oz and were delivered by a team of 30 medics. All six were in intensive care last night, and their mother is said to be stable. The parents have not yet been named. Dr Clifford Mayes, who helped to deliver the babies, said: "It is an extraordinary thing to have witnessed, but you are also struck by the fact that there are little babies in intensive care." He added that staff at the hospital had been preparing for the birth for weeks, making use of technical experts from across Northern Ireland, and confirmed that the children were not conceived through IVF. "We have planned very carefully for today and it went as well as we had hoped it would," he said. "The care of the babies would be the care we would normally expect for any baby.

This is both a happy time and a potentially difficult time." In 1983, Janet and Graham Walton had six girls, all of whom survived and are now aged 25. Four of them are still living with their parents in Wallasey, Merseyside. Yesterday, Mr Walton said he hoped the mother and father of the six children would "enjoy every minute" of parenthood. "I would never offer anyone advice on how to raise their children, but as a father of sextuplets, I can say a sense of humour is vital," he said. Patricia Denvir, the lead midwife in the operation, said the procedure had gone according to plan. "It is a very stressful situation both for our staff ... and also for the parents, but it's a situation that went very well," she said. "Both parents were very composed and they dealt with it very well.

It's a very emotional time." More about: Multiple births - Technology & Science - CBC News Technology & Science CBC News Posted: Jan 27, 2009 3:52 PM ET Last Updated: Jan 30, 2009 4:16 PM ET The birth of octuplets in California in January 2009 was only the second time in history that eight babies born at the same time have survived more than a few hours, doctors said. The mother gave birth to six boys and two girls weighing between one pound, eight ounces and three pounds, four ounces, said doctors at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center near Los Angeles. The hospital had scheduled a caesarean section for seven babies, but doctors said they were surprised when an eighth came out. In January 2008, the birth of sextuplets at a Vancouver hospital marked the first time a set of six babies has been delivered in Canada. Once an extremely rare phenomenon, fertility treatments have made multiple births slightly more common today. But conceiving sextuplets without the use of fertility treatments is extremely rare.

In fact, the odds of giving birth to sextuplets spontaneously are one in 4.7 billion. The grandmother of the octuplets in Los Angeles told reporters that her daughter had fertility treatments in order to conceive. It's not known whether fertility treatments were involved in the Vancouver births. The birth of sextuplets has only been recorded approximately 160 times worldwide and few sets survived in full. Currently, the U.S. is home to six sets of sextuplets, all of which are surviving. Twins are the most common form of multiple birth and can occur naturally once in every 90 births. The odds increase for triplets and other multiple births, according to Multiple Births Canada. Spontaneously these births occur in Canada: Once in 8,100 births for triplets. Once in 729,000 births for quadruplets. Once in 65,610,000 births for quintuplets. In recent years, the incidence of multiple births in Canada is on the rise due to the increased use of fertility drugs.

It is estimated that 60 per cent of triplets, 90 per cent of quadruplets and 99 per cent of quintuplets are the result of these treatments. Below is a timeline of some of the more publicized multiple births in Canada and across the world. Jan. 26, 2009: Octuplets born in California were the second time in history that eight babies born at the same time have survived more than a few hours, doctors said. Jan. 7, 2007 A woman gives birth to sextuplets in Vancouver resulting in Canada's first set of sextuplets. The babies were born at just 25 weeks into the mother's pregnancy. Two later died. July 28, 1999 In Saskatoon, the Gilmour family welcomed Canada's eighth set of quintuplets with the assistance of infertility treatments. Originally, six babies were conceived, but one died in the womb, leaving only five. Dec. 8-20, 1998 Octuplets were born to Nkem and Ike Chukwu in Houston, Texas, over a span of 12 days. The eldest baby was born on Dec.

8, but doctors stopped the delivery to give the remaining seven more time in the womb. The rest of the set was born on Dec. 20. A week later, the smallest of the babies died. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the first set of octuplets was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1971, although none of the babies survived. Jan. 14, 1998 The Humair septuplets made headlines when they were born in Abha, Saudi Arabia, not only because they were the second set of septuplets ever recorded, but also because they were born to a 40-year-old mother. Nov. 19, 1997 Born nine weeks premature, the McCaughey septuplets became the world's first set of seven to survive. Bobbi and Kenny McCaughey became the proud parents of the septuplets by way of fertility drugs. May 25, 1993 Holding the title of the first sextuplets born in the U.S., the Dilley sextuplets were delivered in Indiana. The four boys and two girls were conceived using an infertility treatment called Pergonal. Nov.

11, 1983 The United Kingdom received its first set of sextuplets when the Walton babies were born in Liverpool. Jan. 11, 1974 The first known sextuplets were born in Cape Town, South Africa, to Susan and Colin Rosenkowitz. May 28, 1934 Canada's most famous multiple birth, the Dionne quintuplets, were delivered in a northern Ontario farmhouse. The set would become known internationally during the Great Depression and become a tourist attraction. The quints were the world's first set to survive through infancy and were born naturally before the advent of fertility treatments. Jan. 4, 1915 The Keys quadruplets were born in Oklahoma and would grow to become the first all-female set to survive infancy and carry on into adulthood. The Waltons sextuplets new era of merry chaos - the grandchildren | Daily Mail Online comments Both of them agree it was a momentous day. But Janet and Graham Walton, parents of the world’s only all-girl sextuplets, can’t quite reach a consensus on what was most remarkable about the October morning last year when they became first-time grandparents. Graham remembers the drama and farce.

‘Janet was delayed getting to the hospital because of what I now refer to as the Axminster Incident,’ he says. ‘A roll of carpet fell off the back of a van in front of her as she was driving into Liverpool. She was panicking about being late.’ Scroll down for video The Walton girls, pictured with their parents Janet and Graham. Hannah, Ruth, Luci, Kate, Jennie and Sarah, born in Liverpool in 1983, are the only female sextuplets in the world to have survived Meanwhile Sarah, the first of their sextuplets to bless them with a grandchild, was caught up in a minor palaver at the hospital. ‘Sarah was being taken to the operating theatre for her Caesarian section when the scrub nurse — or was it the surgeon? — got stuck in the lift with her,’ begins Graham. ‘That lift story’s just wrong on so many levels,’ interrupts Ruth, who, like her father, is a natural joker.

‘Sarah wasn’t stuck in it at all.’ RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share ‘Well, someone involved in the operation was trapped in a lift,’ insists Graham, while Janet — serene, calm and unerringly competent — rolls her eyes and smiles. She remembers only the everyday wonder of her granddaughter Jorgie’s birth. ‘I’d seen Sarah early in the morning, and an hour and a half later there she was holding her baby, a beautiful little girl with really big, dark eyes and lots of dark hair. ‘It’s a miracle, isn’t it? I took the first photo of Jorgie half an hour after she was born. The Walton girls, pictured here aged 5, (left to right) Luci, Ruth, Jennie, Hannah, Kate and Sarah ‘She was perfect, so tiny. She weighed 7lb 6½ oz at birth. Sarah was only 2lb 5oz at birth, so her little girl was three times as big as her mum. Yet I couldn’t believe how delicate and small she looked. ‘I felt a tremendous surge of protective love. It flooded into me the moment I saw the pictures from her first scan.

‘I texted all the family: “It’s a girl!” (Well, the Waltons don’t do boys, do we?) I even learnt how to send a group message. Graham and Janet Walton pictured with their six daughters in 1983, shortly after they were born. After Janet's multiple pregnancy was confirmed at eight weeks, she spent the rest of her pregnancy in hospital Apparently, everyone keeps telling Janet, there is ‘no one more experienced at motherhood than you’. ‘But when my girls were born, I knew absolutely nothing,’ she says. ‘I’d had no time to prepare. I hadn’t even seen a midwife or been to an antenatal class. The instant my multiple pregnancy was confirmed at eight weeks, I was whipped into hospital and I stayed there until the birth.’ Janet and Graham had given up hope of conceiving a child of their own. In fact, they were poised to adopt — believing the fertility drug she had been taking would never work — when she became pregnant with six girls. Janet, Graham and their daughters are seen here aged 11, getting ready for their first day of secondary school.

Janet and Graham had given up hope of having children when they found out Janet was pregnant The sextuplets, Hannah, Ruth, Luci, Kate, Jennie and Sarah, born in Liverpool on November 18, 1983, remain unique — no other set of female sextuplets has ever survived — and the world has watched them grow to adulthood with thrilled wonderment. Those of us who have experienced parenthood on a more modest scale can only marvel at the epic task that confronted Janet and Graham after they were born. When Jorgie was born to Sarah and her fiance Kieran, a restaurant manager, on October 7 last year, Janet’s mind cast back to the day, 31 years earlier, when she became a mum. Sarah (left) with mother, Janet (right) and baby Jorgie. Until recently Janet was working as a fund-raising administrator for the neo-natal unit at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where Jorgie was born in October 2014 ‘Jorgie was born on a Tuesday, and by Friday she was home.

In contrast, it was six weeks before our girls came home — they’d been in the special care baby unit — and we brought them back two at a time,’ Janet remembers. ‘From the start, it was absolutely full-on. Daunting. ‘Looking back, I don’t know how we managed; honestly I don’t. ‘We lived through those early years in a blur. We had no time to think. We were just doing. And the only regret is that there wasn’t enough time to enjoy them as much as we’d have liked. The instant my multiple pregnancy was confirmed at eight weeks, I was whipped into hospital and I stayed there until the birth. Janet Walton ‘When Sarah says: “Jorgie was awake in the night. I’m so tired!” I don’t say anything, but I remember back to our girls’ early years. For two years, Graham and I only slept for a couple of hours a night. It was very difficult, a constant round of nappy-changing and feeding. And we couldn’t learn from our mistakes because we experienced everything at once: the weaning, the potty-training, the first steps.

It was a constant onslaught.’ ‘We worked out that we used 11,000 nappies a year,’ chips in Graham, 64, who took a year off from his job as a painter and decorator when his daughters were born, to help look after them. Now, equipped with three decades worth of anecdotes on sharing a house with seven females, he also gives after‑dinner talks. ‘We used to get through cases of talcum powder,’ he says. ‘It was as foggy as Victorian London in our house when they were babies. But they don’t use talc now, do they?’ He seems mildly put out that those days when the air was dense with powder will for ever be consigned to sensory memory. But it gets him reminiscing. Graham Walton (pictured with his six daughters and wife), now gives after-dinner talks on what life's been like living with seven women in the house ‘Just because we had six babies at once, it didn’t mean we were imprisoned in the house,’ he recalls. ‘We got out. Jan and I both took a double buggy and a baby each in a papoose. If anyone was visiting, they’d push the third double buggy.

‘I loved those early years so much. I couldn’t say one phase was better than the others. But there was always so much to do, we didn’t enjoy it as much as we would if we’d had one at a time. With grandchildren, you have time.’ Looking fondly at his granddaughter, he adds: ‘Whenever I see little babies, I wish I could go back and do it all over again.’ Graham and Janet (pictured) say that having six babies didn't stop them from leaving the house when the girls were little, they would use two double buggies and a papoose each to transport the sextuplets Janet, 62, looks stricken. She has just retired from her job as fund-raising administrator for the neo-natal unit at Liverpool Women’s Hospital (Jorgie was born there) and is looking forward to the novelty of devoting some of her spare time to just their one cherished grandchild. ‘There’s nothing quite like being a grandma, is there?’ she says. ‘I think you do have the best of them and I feel privileged. ‘Right from the start I’ve had a bond with Jorgie.

Janet drove Sarah (pictured with Jorgie) and her fiancee, Kieran, to their first scan at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where she worked until recently ‘Kieran and Sarah came round when she was just a few weeks pregnant and said: “We’ve got some exciting news.” There was this big love-in, lots of cuddles, when she said she was pregnant. And because I worked at the hospital, I drove them in for Sarah’s first scan at eight weeks. Kieran popped his head round my door and said: “Come and have a look at this.” It was such a miracle. I saw the scan picture. There she was: a proper little baby. I had a cry. ‘Hopefully I’ll be there for some more milestones. It was fabulous to see Jorgie’s first smile; I think she recognises voices now. She seems to change every day, and she’s so content. ‘She’s joined the library, she goes swimming — it tickles me — Sarah takes her to a little baby group with other new mums. She already has a busy social life. The sisters (pictured) grew up in a seven-bedroom house in Wallasey, Merseyside, where their parents still live.

Apart from Jennie, who lives in Leeds, all the girls still live close to their parents ‘The first time I babysat I was a little bit apprehensive, but it’s instinctive. You just remember what to do. And I tell Sarah: “There’s no right or wrong way.” I never push my views. ‘I chat away to Jorgie when I’m looking after her: “Auntie Kate will be coming later,” or “I wonder what your Mummy’s doing now?” It doesn’t really matter what you say as long as you’re engaging them. ‘And I’ve already bought her a book of stories and nursery rhymes because there’s nothing more rewarding than snuggling them down in bed and reading to them.’ Honestly, I just don’t know how they did it. Everyone says: “It’ll be nice for Jorgie to have a brother” but I definitely don’t want six. I couldn’t cope! Sarah Walton When I visit, all the sisters have convened at the family home, the warm and welcoming seven-bedroom house in Wallasey, Merseyside, where they grew up.

It’s the third time I’ve visited them and I never fail to think how different, how fiercely individual, they all are. All but Hannah have moved away now. But apart from Jennie — who lives with partner Matt, a catering manager, in Leeds — they all live within a stone’s throw of Mum and Dad’s. ‘I can’t remember a time when the house ever felt empty. There’s always someone dropping by for tea,’ says Jan, who seems perpetually to keep a vast vat of food bubbling on the hob. Meanwhile, Jorgie, sweet-tempered and quick to smile, is being passed between her doting aunts like a parcel in a party game. ‘She’s just enveloped in all this love,’ smiles Jan. ‘I’m sure she’ll develop great social skills, too, because we talk to her all the time.’ Sarah, practical and sensible like her mum, worked as an administrator in a medical centre before she had Jorgie. Now she’s taking a year’s maternity leave. She and Kieran have just bought their first house together. ‘Eventually we’ll get married,’ she says. ‘I wouldn’t bother if I were you.

You can live in sin with my blessing and save me a few bob,’ jokes Graham. Hannah, Ruth, Luci, Kate and Jennie (pictured here with Sarah in 1987) are all thrilled to be aunts to Sarah's baby, Jorgie, although they have mixed views on who'll be next to have a baby When his girls were newborns, any visitor was presented with a baby and a nappy to change because the practical tasks were relentless. Jorgie, by contrast, is overwhelmed with attention. ‘We try to give everyone a turn to cuddle,’ says Sarah, who reflects on what life must have been like for her mum and dad with the six of them and only two pairs of hands. ‘Honestly, I just don’t know how they did it. Everyone says: “It’ll be nice for Jorgie to have a brother” but I definitely don’t want six. I couldn’t cope!’ wails Sarah. ‘You would if you had to,’ says Graham.

‘Granted, it would be a bit frightening, but you’d just get on with it.’ Despite growing up in such a large family, Jennie, Sarah, Luci, Hannah, Ruth and Kate (left to right, aged 11) all agree that having six children of their own would be too many The consensus among the girls is that six children would be far too many, even if they came along one at a time. ‘I can’t wait to have one — or maybe two. But no more than that,’ says Ruth who works in PR and reception at a shopping centre and will marry Rob, a civil servant, later this year. Luci, funny and exuberant, is a cabin crew member with an airline, and has been engaged for six years to Paul, a bakery supervisor. But she isn’t ready for motherhood yet. ‘No way!’ she protests. Hannah, cool, calm and organised, is a primary school teacher. She has a partner, Steve, manager of a recruitment agency, but she’s living with Mum and Dad; saving up, biding her time. Sarah (pictured) takes Jorgie to a baby group with other new mums so she has a busy social life already!

Kate, often miscast as ‘the serious one’, actually has a quiet and quirky sense of humour. She works in human resources and says: ‘I’m not really very maternal.’ But she’s still single. That could change. Quick-witted and sparky Jennie, who runs her own sweet shop, says: ‘You have to find the man you want to spend the rest of your life with before you have babies, don’t you?’ Janet presides serenely over the hubbub of chatter. ‘When I had the girls, people said: “It couldn’t have happened to a better person. You’re so sensible, organised and calm.” ‘Perhaps I’ve been a bit too sensible with Jorgie. She had so many pretty clothes, so I bought her a savings bond — and a cot. All the girls will get a cot. We’ve always tried to treat them fairly. ‘But now I’m thinking: “One day, before I die, I’ll do something mad, something utterly out of character.”’ ‘How about a tattoo? Or sky-diving?’ offers Jennie. ‘Oh, I’m not telling anyone what it’ll be,’ says Janet cryptically. She’d better be quick about it.

This time next year there could be another batch of grandchildren on the way; another frenetic round of babysitting and nappy-changing. Meanwhile, I ask what her hopes are for her adored first grandchild, and she replies: ‘I’m looking forward to her being part of my future, to noticing all the tiny changes that happen every day; to having time to savour and enjoy every minute I spend with her. ‘I wish her happiness, health and a long, fruitful life. And who knows?’ she smiles, ‘Perhaps six little brothers as well.’ Six Little Miracles: The heartwarming true story of raising the world’s first sextuplet girls, by Janet Walton with Robert Ettinger, is published next Thursday, by Ebury Press.

Question: What was the surname of the Liverpool family who in 1983 had sextuplets
Answer: Walton